Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, June 13 (Reuters) – Ukrainian officials said early Tuesday that Russia had launched a “massive missile” attack on the city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, killing at least three people, wounding 25 and causing damage. with civil infrastructure.
Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region where Kryvyi Rih is located, said on messaging app Telegram that rescue operations were underway in a burnt five-storey apartment building and in a destroyed warehouse.
“There are still people under the rubble of a building. There was a fire,” Lessac said, giving raw casualty figures, and posting a picture of an apartment building with smoke billowing from some smashed windows.
The city’s mayor, Oleksandr Vilkol, said he believed at least seven people were trapped under the rubble, without providing further details. Reuters could not independently verify the news.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was born in Kryvyi Rih, also condemned the attack on his hometown.
“Russian murderers continue their war against residential buildings, ordinary cities and people,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.
During the early hours of Tuesday, air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine, with military officials in Kiev saying air defense forces had destroyed all Russian missiles targeting the Ukrainian capital.
Ukraine’s top military command said the air force had destroyed 10 out of 14 cruise missiles launched by Russia at Ukraine and one of four Iranian-made drones.
It was not immediately clear how many missiles hit Kryvyi Rih and where the drones launched by Russia hit their targets.
There was no immediate comment from Russia on the reported strikes. Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia waged on its neighbor about 16 months ago.
The mayor of the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine said on his Telegram channel that Russian drones struck civilian infrastructure there, hitting a warehouse and a service company building. There was no immediate information on injuries.
(Reporting by Valentin Orizhenko, Serhiy Karazzi and Lydia Kelly) — Writing by Lydia Kelly in Melbourne and Aleksandar Vasović in Belgrade; Editing by Simon Cameron Moore
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